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Page context: Ryan-Be-Fair > Message Board
A word from us: We receive an amazing number of emails every day, most of them supportive of our work, some critical. It is key for us that we post comments mirroring all opinions to present a balanced picture. Please note that all comments posted here are genuine, and names and/or contacts are known only to us.
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"I was appalled to read many of the comments from Ryanair staff. The airline's practices towards its employees appears highly exploitative, even if not illegal. I will certainly not fly with Ryanair again on principle."
-Interested Public, UK
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"On one day last week there was no water available in the crew room for crew. We do have waterfilters which provde us water from the tap, but the waterpipes were broken so they shut down the water suppoly. So no water for crew to take on borard. 12hr without water. This is a legal requirement that our company has to provide us with water. It is even written in our contracts."
-Cabin Crew, Belgium
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"I've honestly never realized how the things are going bad in this company. I've been working for Ryanair for the last 15 months. At beginning though I was said to get around 1100 pounds a month it was never like that. Fortunately now I'm on the contract and moneywise it's not catastrophic. But I'm really sorry for all my collegues working for agencies who now get something like 500 pounds a month because of the amount of cabin crew in the base. We are costantly on stand by and that means no money. I understand people saying "Quit the job if you are not happy." But I also know it's not that easy, you've invested time and strenght in it and you don't want to give up without trying harder. "
-Cabin Crew, UK
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"I have been with Ryanair for over 4 years now and yes it's had it's up's and down's but I have overall enjoyed working there until recently. I have found myself looking else where for work as the conditions in my base worsen by the day. We have recently got a new supervisor who thinks it acceptable to threaten with 'Disiplinary action' for everything! She recently held a meeting stating that safety and sales where equally important! I am sorry but the saftey of passengers and crew are my main prioity not how many tea and coffee i can sell! The big wigs in head office need to take a serious look at things, as long serving crew are leaving. Yes I know that there is no lack of people waiting in the wings to sign up for 'The dream' but in my opinion you should try and retain experienced staff as after all you cannot buy or teach experience. I am sorry to say that Ryanair is no longer an enjoyable place to work and would strongle urge anyone considering joining up NOT TOO!"
-Cabin Crew, Belgium
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"We need to do something its getting worse and worse in this company!"
-Employee, Germany
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"New contracts for the 900 hours. First 300 hours 11 pounds, 301-600 14 pounds 601-900 hours 16 pound. Why difference in payment. It is the same work.. I can not believe this. Somebody has to stop this and do something about it. But probably ryanair is bringing to much money into the EU. So everybody keeps their mouth shut. Open your eyes.. "
-Cabin Crew, Belgium
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"I've been working as a cabin crew for 10 months and my salary is less than 1000 Euro. I always have at least 10 H-SBY/month. Last month I earned 400 Euro because rostering personnel made a huge mistake and thought that I had resigned and I couldn't work for two weeks. I made complaints everywhere I could but nobody helped me and said sorry. We do feel that we are forced to leave the company, before getting a contract, in order to recruit new "birds" instead of us who would work for free for a year again. Ryanair SHAME ON YOU. THIS IS MODERN SLAVERY."
-Cabin Crew, Germany
"I am an ex-cabin crew member of 3+ yrs service and I am absolutely disgusted that things haven't got any better. I would never fly with them as a passenger purely on principle. Hopefully their bubble will burst one day - this company is not fit to fly. Especially when you're threatened upon leaving that your final pay might be withheld unless you sign a declaration that you will not sue the company in the future and you need to see a lawyer to find out if this is legal (which it is not)."
-Interested Public, UK
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"I've now worked for Ryanair for 5 months, moving to London to do my training was tough and with no financial support from Ryanair with accomadation or anything I was already dissapointed. I'd like to say most of the staff are pretty nice and all stick together. I have met some of the best people with this company but after a couple of months found myself being bullied by not only managment but other staff as well. It got so bad I would ring in sick and when you tried to speak to my superviser they just said 'is it because she's doing her job properly that she doesn't like you?'. So I thought what's the point of all the money we pay out and hard hours and extra time and christmas bank holidays we don't get paid extra for and for what...£769 a month..."
-Cabin Crew, UK
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"I have worked for Ryanair for 4 months. I thought it was going to be my childhood dream fullfilled but it is just a nightmare. I don't have a problem of being overworked, I barely get enough hours work to pay for basic living. During my training we were lead to believe that we would earn £1100pm on average, but the reality is £500pm, and considering paying for the uniform and training costs you can imagine what is left.
I was assigned to an airport 200 miles from home but exchanged with another trainee so that I could stay at home, this has been the only reason that I have been able to stay with Ryanair, had I relocated I would truely have not been able to survive. At my base I have a very unhelpful line manager who if you phone him he calls it pestering and makes you feel inept. I do love the job but I just don't know who to turn to or what to do. I have experianced many problems but have no support at all."
-Cabin Crew, UK
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"If so many people are concdrned about Ryanair's policies then it can't be untrue. Please respect the rights of your employees."
-Concerned Citizen, India
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"It might surprise Mr. O'Leary to know that his staff have the constitutional right of free assembly, i.e. the right to join a Union. To harass or dismiss staff as a result of union membership constitutes a breach of employment legislation, and more importantly of their consitiutional rights. However, I assume Mr. O'Leary shows the same contempt for the constitution as he does for his passengers, and obviously for his staff. Pity Ryanair the day that competition arrives in the marketplace."
-Passenger, Ireland
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"I really hope for Ryanair and all my cabin crew colleagues that everything will become good for us. I really want to leave the company to go for a longhaul company which has better contracts and a safe system that includes insurance, pension, etc. Ryanair is abusing us the same way they abuse their passengers. I feel so guilty to be forced to be one fo the executors that are ripping off the passengers' money every day! Please help us!"
-Employee, Germany
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"I flew with Ryanair for the first time quite recently and I must say that I was completely appalled by the standards of the workplace in which their cabin crew were employed. They have absolutely no privacy for r&r whilst onboard and are yet, I understand, expected to perform a 12+ hour day. On our flight, the flight crew unnecessarily put the seatbelt light on, most probably to give the cabin crew just the slightest extra time to recover. Ryanair are relying too heavily on the goodwill of their staff without ackowledging any of their most basic needs. Surely the ethical treatment of your staff (above your passengers) should be the fundamental business strategy for Ryanair, not simply cheapo pack'em onboard tickets"
-Interested Public, UK
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"I have just booked a flight with Ryanair and I'm really shocked to read about the working conditions at the company. I will not be willing to buy another flight in the future if their policy doesn't change."
-Passenger, France
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"Hi everyone! I, an ex-cabin crew based first in Dublin and then in Girona, have not had a good experiance with Ryanair either. In the 11th month of my working for Ryanair, I found in my pidgeon hole an 'Invitation letter' for the Dublin meeting regarding my overall performance. I was still on a Workforce contract at the time. The result of the meeting was that I got sacked straight away without any proper reason given. I was shocked and terrified at the time, but at least there were plenty of great people - my ex-colleagues - who supported me a lot even if nobody understood 'why it happened to me'.
As I was reading some comments on this board, I now know why. It was because I was one of those 'old crew' who after 11-12 months of hard work become less interesting to the company, because they no longer profit from you anymore and it is more suitable for them to recruit new stafrf, who pay every month for the training up to 12 months of their working contract.
I appealed my dismissal and reached another meeting concerning my appeal, but it was good for nothing as they used all the information presented by myself against me. Then I tried to contact a lawyer to classify my dismissal as 'unfair' but the lawyer said 'you must be employed with the company at least 12 months to claim unfair dismissal, that is the law. That is why so many people get sacked from Ryanair in the 11th month, unfortunately even without any proper reason.
Looking back to that time of my life, I have to say, I met plenty of great cabin crew, pilots and ground staff over there, but on the other hand their was a huge rivalry between the company as well.
Now I can say, that it was probably destiny and I am really happy that I do not work for Ryanair anymore.
My best wishes to all the remaining crew! Take care!"
-Ex-cabin crew, Slovakia
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"I am an Organiser with Australias Largest Manufacturing union and I would love to send to you the Ryan Air Workers a message of Solidarity as I appprecite what you are doing and I'm sure other like minded people from Australia would do the same."
-Interested Public, Ireland
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"I’ve never worked for Ryanair, though as an Irish Person, I am so disappointed at the way they treat people. I know you can get a cheap flight, and aviation has changed with their presence, though it has gone to the extreme, and it is everywhere here in Ireland. Companies wiping their hands of any responsibilities.
I did work for a ferry company in Ireland, whom just paid off every person (nearly 600), and by no means was I on a great wage, just manageable, though in favour off the Shareholders they got in cheap labour from Eastern Europe to operate instead of us. This has to stop, this exploitation of people by companies.
The staff paying for training, this drives me mad, as this is paramount to safety in transportation, I find it so scary and a joke, and it proves that they are just doing the bare minimum to stay in the air, and God forbid, one of these days they will cut a corner a tad too much, and I dare not think what will happen, all because it makes their monthly figures look good on paper.
How can someone have pride at work? If they are not been shown nor guided by it to themselves from the top down. I for one have stopped using Ryanair, I use Iberia and BA instead on routes I frequently travel to. Funny, when I buy coffee I try and get the Fair Trade logo on the label, and I don’t have to look far to see exploitation ripe and flourishing from a certain airport on this Isle.
One time Proud Ryanair customer turned sickened!"
-Interested Public, Ireland
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"Just got a letter in my pigeon hole about my poor attendance for the last 12 months, because I have 3 sickdays in 1 year. I had a meeting with our "nice" BS that if I call in sick 1 more time.. I have to go to Dublin and explain myself. Calling in sick can cause flight delays. And think about your colleagues who get called off standby. What's this about ...come on??? 3 sickdays in 1 year is nothing. Fed up!!"
-Cabin Crew, Belgium
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"ryanair decided to take out the curtains which separate the galley from the cabin. our galleys are next to the toilets and taking out these curtains means not having any barrier between the place we have to eat and the toilets. as well we have a flight of more than 3 hours and without this curtain we will have all the persons in the galley observing us. first i dont think it is really hygenic and not professional at all...with my collegues we decided to eat in the jumpseat...in front of everybody without caring really....but still we cannot close anything now when this stink is coming out of toilets!
what action could we carry out? thanks!"
-Cabin Crew, Germany
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"Ex-passenger. I'm not going to support an airline who treat their staff like dirt."
-Passenger, UK
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"Full marks to Ryanair for revolutionising air travel in Europe. But surely it can be done by treating staff as 'humans' and not slaves."
-Interested Public, Ireland
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"Hi everyone, I can't believe what I just read...I think that the only thing you can do is: JOIN THE UNIONS!, Be united!, Don't let'em walk all over you!. 'If you don't like it you're free to leave'....Don't let them say that to you, they must first show RESPECT to those that give every inch of their body and evergy to get the company going!!! Good luck."
-Interested Public, Ireland
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"we're not in the 19th century anymore! employees have rights!"
-Passenger, France
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"Ive worked for Ryanair for over 7 months now and its taken them that long to inform me of how to obtain my payslips!!"
-Cabin Crew, UK
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"Yikes! Perhaps another example of how unscrupulous large employers operate in the 21st century. Legislation? Codification? Regulation? NO. The United Kingdom: A democratic country where so long as the goverment make money no one gives a damn. Perhaps if Ryan Air were a GP or Surgeon they would get struck off....then again just maybe.."
-Interested Public, UK
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"You are a bit wrong about ryanair. But yes, it is true that we do long hours, is true that we have to pay for our training course, but only if you stay in the company less than a year. You start earning a minimum salary. After the first year you can get paid more money when you go on the ryanair contract. Thank you."
-Cabin Crew, Ireland
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"cabin crew need your help! ryanair treat them so bad!"
-Employee, UK
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"My 18yr old daughter is due to start training in Girona. I'm worried as she has not been away from home before. Will she be looked after and what will it be like working for Ryanair?"
-Concerned Mother, UK
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"Ryanair in Seville workers receive harrassment and mobbing from a bully boss. He also bullies people telling them they're going to be fired with excuses that he invents."
-Interested Public, Spain
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"Landings...my work takes me all over the world bu I have never experienced such fast and harsh landings as Ryanair planes exhibit. A recent flight from Stansted to Palma in good conditions and yet all passesgers were so pressed against the seat belts on landing you would think we had been asked to take the brace position. My wife was so frightened that she has insisted I never book Ryanair again. Is this caused by 'jet jockeys' as O'Leary calls his pilots or are they under instructions to land faster for quicker turn round times? Surely the pilots have some pride in their jobs, most do it because it is a quality profession which Ryanair seems hell bent on dishonouring."
-Interested Public, UK
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"I must apologise now to all the dedicated, professional staff that are employed by Ryanair, but I will no longer fly with you. After encouraging my niece to train as cabin crew an dfollowing her training with interest, I can say that as a qualified assessor and trainer of assessors that the system used by Ryanair is not fit for purpose."
-Concerned Citizen, UK
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"hello, Ive been working for Ryanair 3 years and I must tell you I had brilliant time while I was there. Cabin crew there to sell sandwiches, drinks and any items from inflight maagazine. Please Stop moaning, it is absolutely ridiculous"
- Employee, France
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"i know when you wanna become cabin crew you want to fly and all, but this company is no glamorous aviation job: i worked in dublin base but did a few days and overnights in other bases, but ryanair flys to old army airports apart from the odd few, and you are miles way from everything. so if you dont get based in the majors ones your life is just so boring. i worked for them for 10 months and they are the worst; avg working week 70 hours, avg flights per week 23-30, avg pay per month 1450+ commission. let me just give you a typical day in the life of a ryanair cabin crew member:
you wake up at 3.30 am for an early shift, and you have to report for your briefing at about 5:00. you will be asked safety question and meet your crew which you need to know or you will be offloaded. you could be doing Dublin Manchester, Manchester Dublin, Dublin Newcastle, Newcastle Dublin, Dublin Prestwick, Prestwick Dublin. which means you are doing 6 take offs and 6 landings, 6 drinks services, 6 boardings, 6 safety demos, 6 disembarkments, a million gashs (rubbish collection) and scratch cards and bus tickets and whatever other money pinching ideas. of course, you must count everything on board the aircraft when you get on at the start of your shift and everything when you finish, and we are talking about 5 bar boxes full of sandwiches and other stuff, and 5 trolleys. there are four crew on board the aircraft, two front and two rear, but not enough - like on your last flight which could be a prestwick with only 20 minutes, during which you need to get your drinks done, scratch cards done, rubbish done, all the other stuff, count the bars, then count the money from what you made that day, both euros and pound.
so you could land at 16.30 that afternoon and you would have to go back to the crew room, sign for the bars, go to the base supervoiser and show him your inflight report, and blah blah blah. so you are not getting home till like 18:00, and by the time you get home all you want to do is sleep, as you have to be back up to do it all again the very next day. overall, i did alot of extra days for them and they are meant to give them back to you, but they dont.
no ones cares about anyone, manement dont like you and walk all over you if you let them. I'm a very nice person but this company just took everything from me, they ran me so far into the ground it was unreal. you also have to pay for everything, they don't pay for one thing. after paying for your training and not been payed, you do get payed the next month but its just like 700 Euro, which will go on your bills and leave you with 10 to feed yourself for the month.
i just want to say to anyone who is thinking about going to work for these people is to please make sure you know what your getting yourself in for, i know the buzz of the job will make you go for it, but for your own sake just hold out for a little while longer and apply elsewhere and get a job with a company that will look after you."
-Cabin Crew, Ireland
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"There is no way I will in future book Ryanair unless absolutely necessary. I imagine many people feel the same way. O'Leary might want to modify his money-grabbing approach before his big fat profits diminish; it will be hard to get his previously loyal passengers back."
-Interested Public, France
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"I didn't know that Ryanair treats their Crews like that and I'll really think about continue booking tickets at Ryanair. I hope all of you will find better conditioned jobs at other airlines in this fast growing market. When I flew with Ryanair the crew always was professional and very nice so I hope -in case you are looking-, you crews will get better jobs at other Airlines."
-Interested Public, Ireland
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"Hola soy un viajero de ryanair, pero he decidido dejar de serlo despues de enterarme de lo que hace con sus empleados, me parece una vergüenza. Estaba empezando a dudar de la seguridad de los vuelos ryanair despues de oir algunos comentarios, pero despues de entrar en ryan-be fair, ryanair y yo hemos roto definitivamente hasta nueva noticias un saludo."
-Pasajero, Spain
[ENGLISH: "Hi, I am a Ryanair passenger, but after realising how they treat their employees I shall not be flying with them again. I was starting to have doubts about them; I have already heard lots about the lack of security when they check their planes, but with the exploitation of their staff added to this, I shall never fly with Ryanair again." - Passenger, Spain}
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"Hello everybody. I don't know how old these comments here are. I just applied for a Cabin crew job with Ryanair. But after reading this page I am not sure I want to work for this company. Even though the presentation was nice, I also didn't like the fact that I have to pay for my training. The other problem is I would have to relocate. Can I live from the money they are offering, ca. 1450 Euro, in England, Spain or Italy?"
-Interested public, Slovakia
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"I began the Ryanair training course at Stansted airport in January this year. Although I was successful on the course I had heard far too much negative comments being made from current and ex employees which made me decide against working for them. I have a lot of friend s working for them based in various bases across the UK who are on the verge of quitting through sheer exhaustion and lack of belief in the firm."
-Concerned citizen, UK
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"After one year of working with Ryanair all my colleagues received a Ryanair contract, I came with a few other people from the same training course. I would like to have an explanation why I didn't get my contract. I called personnel to ask if there was an explanation for this...and I would like to see my file... unfortunately they hung up on me... I'm sure it's because of the bad line between my base and Dublin because I wasn't even able to finish my sentence."
-Employee, Belgium
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"I used to work for Ryanair and i did enjoy it but somethings i thought were very unfair like €30 a month for your uniform and stuff like that. I honestly dont think its as bad as everyone is saying. Some people fall asleep on the earlies a lot of those people have been put all night too i know i was there. And the money was very good a lot more than my other 18 year old friends at the time. A lot of things cant wont change it always was the early shifts 6 days on is a lot getting up at 4.30 or 5am to be in work looking fresh and awake and all dolled up. i believe if it changed to 3 days and a day off and another 3 days the attitude would be a lot better most of the time people are just exhausted. I left 2 years ago i miss the people but i do not miss those early shifts and long boring flights."
-Cabin Crew, Ireland
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- Interested public, UK
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"I have stopped flying with Ryanair after they refused to give be compensation for a delayed flight required by law. Before I stopped using Ryanair, a lot of the staff seemed unfriendly and rude but after reading about the bad way in which they are treated by their superiors I can now understand! Since money is the only thing that Ryanair understands, they should be shunned by customers until Ryanair shows a modicum of respect for passengers and staff. Only when their management sees the profits going down will they even consider changing."
- Interested public, Germany
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"I see that someone at the bottom of this page got the same treatment as myself from STN base, yes FIRED for NO given reason! Simply that there was no more money to be squeezed from "this" lemmon anymore. The attitude of this company seriously damaged my thoughts of going to work for another airline but having come back from an interview today with BA I can honestly say that other airlines do ACTUALLY treat people like HUMANS. I now just hope that I get this job with BA so that I can experience what cabin crew is all about. And for all the people out there who seem to think that O'Leary is doing a great job ask yourself this, would you want to fly onboard a flight where the crew are so shattered that in the event of something serious happening that they were too tired to bother??"
- Cabin Crew, UK
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"I was victimised and bullied for 14 years not at Ryanair. If this sounds like you I would suggest you leave or get advice to fight back if practical. We all need to work but in my case it has ruined me nearly completely and I am working to recover still. There is only so much humans can take. You may get benefit help too if you can prove your case in uk at least. Check first."
- Interested public, UK
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"I worked for this company for 9 months and managed to wrack up nearly 10,000 pounds worth of debt just trying to get by and living on my just over 800 pound a month wages, which as previously stated works out to be alot less than minimum wage. Theses were the most depressing 9 months of my life, being away from family and friends. It is not the cabin crews fault that they are tired it is the long hours and lack of respect that you get from the company. I got diverted one night. Finally getting back at 5.30 the next morning i was expected to be at work again at 5.30 that evening as i had my 12 hours rest. to me this was totally unacceptable but unless i wanted the base suporvisor shouting i had to turn up. to me the way this whole company works is just unreal."
- Cabin Crew, UK
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"I shall never publicly complain about my airline again. The treatment I receive, while not optimum, is certainly better than what is described here. My heart goes out to the Ryanair employees."
-Cabin Crew, United States
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"I have recently had the opportunity to get to know a selection of Ryanair Cabin Crew and have been mortified time and time again by the details. 12 hour days (that seem illegal according to material on this site). Bullying from management (One employee with a 4 year track record was told to cancel holiday leave for the third time in a row at the last minute thereby missing a booked and paid for holiday, they were threatened with the sack if they didn't cancel their annual leave). Extremely low pay that works out less than minimum wage when you consider the duty hours. This company is a disgrace and more attention should be heaped on its business practices, particularly in respect to its employees."
- Interested public, UK
"Our daughter has joined Ryanair as cabin crew. She has only started working and is already miserable, tired, and is now well aware of the aggressive attitude of Ryanair personnel staff towards crew. What a pathetic air line. She borrowed money from us and from her sister for her training, etc. She was given NO TIME whatsoever to find accommodation at her new base before being expected to start flying. We are not in the UK so could not help. She flew to the UKfrom her training base on the Friday, on to her work base on Saturday. She couldn't find accommodation and ended up sleeping on a concrete floor on a curtain before getting up at 3.30am to start flying. Where was the personnel support? They should at least have a couple of days to find somewhere to live, and there should be a list of "emergency" accommodation for new arrivals. I am disgusted with the way she has been treated. These people seem to be stuck in a time warp - does nobody at Ryanair have any personnel qualifications or training? If they did, they would be aware that staff work better, more efficiently and willingly when they are treated as human beings, and not as beasts."
- Interested public, UK
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"O'leary is right to keep trade unions out of Ryanair. One only has to look ar Aer Lingus to see the detrimental effect that trade unions have on a company's performance."
- Interested public, Ireland
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"Ladies and Gentlemen,
A very warm welcome aboard your flight today with a company that not only does not know how to treat its passengers but also its staff. How do I know simple I am one of the unlucky ones who was desperate to become a commercial pilot who was told at interview that this would be an ideal opportunity, 11months later and im now asking myself what area of work I seriously want to do. Ryanair have been the destruction of what I thought and know to be one of the best jobs in the world, destroyed by management. This man does not care for anything or anyone and I cant wait to quit very soon. It is very true that cabin crew pay for training, uniform, parking, sick days, getting transferred to a different base and all in the name of as STN base manager likes to point out "Face of the company". I decided now that I do not wish to pay to be free advertising nor to be treated worse than an animal. I am well aware no person goes to work to enjoy or be treated greatly but having worked for Barclays before this company I suddenly realise what a waste of time this has been."
- Cabin Crew, UK
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"I find deplorable O'Leary's treatment both of passengers like myself and of his staff. Like everyone I know, because of O'Leary's attitude, I pay extra where possible, to travel with Easy Jet or others where attitudes and behavior are more suitable for civilised 21st human beings."
- Interested public, UK
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"The treatment of Ryanair staff is despicable and must be rectified. O'Leary must not be allowed to exploit hard working people in this way to increase his fortune."
- Interested public, UK
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"I have worked for Ryanair 1 month and im applalled at the way they treat us. For anyone wanted to be cabin crew i beleive Ryanair offer experience only. They do not give you full details of the job and what it entails whilst training. Expect LONG hours with no overtime pay. I spent 1 hour and 30mins waiting at 11.20pm for airport services to pick up a wheelchair passenger which meant that i missed my bus and had to get a cab. Ryanair isnt at fault with the delay in picking up the passenger but will have no say to the airport services about their lack of commitment. Im glad to say im not continuing with the company."
- Cabin Crew, UK
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"Great work, lets run this to the end, what can the workers lose? thank you for your support."
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"This website only confirms what I have begun to suspect: Ryanair is managed by some rather short sighted profit-mongers. I was disgusted to see the excess baggage queue was longer than that of the check-in!
And where is the priority check-in for medical cases/handicapped passengers? What a sad place, both for employees and for customers."
- Interested public, France
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"As a cabin crew member who has worked for the company for several years i can honestly say that when i am flying i still enjoy it. Ok you do not always receive support from management but we do earn good money for the job we do. I have a mortgage on my own which is more than a lot of people my age have. As for sales being top priority, this is nonsense. Safety will always be the main concern. Those who put sales first above all else are just as bad as certain members of management. The training department will always support those who put safety first, as that's why we are there. Stand up for yourselves we're all adults!"
- Cabin Crew, UK
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"I was appalled to read of Ryanairs demand that airports return to normal security procedures. As a member of the public I have the right to send a complaint to Aviation and Airline ombudsman, highlighting my extreme concern that Ryanair publicy announces that it does not wish to participate or be subjected to public, aviation and airline safety, to the level set out by international standards.
Ryanair can not, therefore not be permitted to operate and meet safety standards as set out in the EU. If Ryanair are permitted to operate an airline from the UK, (we) a group concerned citizens, will be making our voice heard to the highest degree. Ryanair has issued the government with a seven-day ultimatum to restore airport security measures to normal or risk being sued for compensation."
- Interested public, UK
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"I don't even work for Ryanair and have already found them out to be highly unprofessional. I went for a job interview last week for cabin crew, i was told i would hear back from them within two days as to whether i was successful or not, a week later and i still havent heard a thing, I have even sent two emails simply asking them to inform me on the current situation. Out of common courtesy it would be nice to receive a reply. After reading everyone elses comments on this page, i think i've had a lucky escape. Ryanair did me the biggest favour by not contacting me. What a rubbish company!"
- Interested public, UK
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"Before I read your commends on this webpage I already had seen a documentary about Ryanair (I think at a channel from Belgium). Journalists applied for a job and found out that many things were not ok with this airline. (People were not working on the appropriate Airport pass, the teachers gave flight safety answers before the exam, crew members with criminal backgrounds were employed etc.). I couldn’t believe it was true!! But apparently it is.
I work for a Dutch charter airline and as a consequence of the low cost airlines such as Ryanair and Easyjet we had to become a low cost airline as well. We first lost the newspapers, the meals, one crew member, children’s teddy bears and we don’t know where it will end…
We (80 – 90 % of the crew) are a members of a trade union that takes care of all big airlines in the Netherlands, they couldn’t go much further. After ´on blocks´ we were always paid 1 hour extra to wait for wheelchairs and to walk trough the gate to be brought back to our headquarters. The want to reduce this hour, but until now they couldn’t do that yet. You don’t deserve such a treatment…!"
- Interested public, Netherlands
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"There are a few employees of other airlines commenting about how much better life is working for airlines other than Ryanair where they enjoy lavish treatment and cushy pay cheques. That is nice. But it is Ryanair who has revolutionised air travel and enabled people of all wealths to use air travel as opposed to ferry/bus/trains. It is Ryanair which provides this, not the airlines which provide all the extras for the employees. There is a reason why Ryanair have leading passenger numbers in Europe and why they are the most profitable."
- Interested public, Ireland
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"I spent 3 1/2 years slaving for this company but managed to escape a few months ago. Before I left I had to seek legal advice as Ryanair threatened to withold my final salary if I refused to sign a disclaimer form regarding future illnesses I might develop due to flying. I was advised to blacken out certain paragraphs and add in my own 'disclaimer'. I also had to hand back the so called uniform, for which I had paid in excess of £1000 since joining the company - CREW have money deducted from them for ADVERTISING this company. I was not given any form of refund for this and when I did actually receive my final salary (I was shocked that they decided to pay out) it was about £200 short of what I had calculated it to be. The pay department informed me that it was correct and even had the cheek to say that our flight pay had gone up before I left!! I honestly cannot believe that they are still allowed to carry human beings. Unfortunately money will always win over common sense. For anyone who continues to fly as a passenger - be aware that your time will come when Ryanair sweeps you aside. For those desperate to make a career of flying - PLEASE, PLEASE wait a while, something decent WILL come along."
- Interested public, UK
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“Guys, whilst I love my job I also agree with what you are saying, we need union protection and fast. Hell, we can’t even use the onboard ovens anymore to heat our own food up!”
- Cabin Crew, UK
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“The right to make a free choice on representation at work is just as important as the freedom of speech. It seems to me that Ryanair is violating both.”
- Passenger, Norway
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“I was saddened but not surprised that there are still disreputable and dishonest employers like Ryanair still allowed to flaunt the EEC employment laws. I myself was once the victim of a bent employer. As a committed trade unionist I would say to all present and future employees of this cowboy airline if they want to work for such slave drivers, JOIN A TRADE UNION. Preferably all join the same trade union. Then you might make some headway and improve your working conditions.”
- Concerned citizen, UK
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“Keep up the good work. Ryanair management will eventually be beaten.”
- Cabin crew, UK
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“I can't understand the people who are adding comments like "if you don't like it leave". Doesn't everyone deserve at least basic respect and manners, whether at work or even just in the street. To ignore this sort of behaviour is just allowing it to become the norm. Don't think that treating people in this way is okay because it's not happening to you. Ryanair used to be a normal airline with normal conditions. This is what they have resorted to in order to make money. Does anyone reading this have an employer who are not looking to make money too?? The world changes, let’s not make the Ryanair way the future!!!”
- Cabin crew, UK
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“As a regular "Budget" airline passenger, I just want to sympathise with the stories of Ryanair cabin and ground crew on these boards. Us passengers are aware of the cut-throat employer you guys have and the conditions you have to put up with. The fault of course lies with Mister Greedy O'Leary and his attitude. It’s clear that he regards Ryanair as his personal fiefdom and his staff and customers as either slaves or complete chumps. The sad thing is that it doesn’t need to be this way! You just have to compare Ryanair and easyJet to see how a more caring attitude towards staff and customers can work, and still be profitable. Good luck in your campaign!”
- Concerned citizen, UK
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“I've worked for Ryanair for 11 months and I must say they were the worst 11 months of my life! I was so tired all the time and used to fall asleep on my jumpseat! Most of the time I was tearful and depressed because the bullying was just too much! I still cant believe they don’t give any basic pay anymore! And as for safety...well forget it, it doesn’t exist in that airline! Even the aircrafts are not properly checked by engineers as every month we had at least 1 emergency!”
- Cabin crew, UK
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“I left Ryanair about 5 months ago, and I must say I've never been happier!! Working as a cabin crew is not supposed to be like that!! Just want to tell everybody who are still there suffering, please LEAVE as soon as possible! Apply for another airline and you'll see it's a wonderful job! I know that people have to be there to get the money, so did I. But I left straight away after I had paid off the training. It's not worth it to try to make it a life out there!! I had many good friends who I miss, but the company makes your life hell!!
Take care, you'll make it!! - This lemon has been squeezed (Att. Michael O'Leary!!).”
- Ex-cabin crew, UK
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“I've read comments here such as "You knew from the start how it’s gonna be "and some cabin crew from different bases are trying to tell people that it’s a good company to work for. Well we all know, who have been working in STN that it’s a dump. They don’t have any respect for the crew. And how could we have known that it’s like that?? I mean you guys who work in different bases, some of you stay in FR for years, and i dont blame you, you get ryanair contracts and you dont have a management like we do in STN. I was actually sacked just last week, for a reason they cannot tell. Well the reason is that i was working for ryanair for 11months,which means i would have got the FR contract. I even did my recurrent training the day before and our base manager was telling me the day before that I’m gonna be number one and that I’m gonna have the CSS course in 2weeks. they are so two-faced there that it makes me sick.
It’s disgusting how they treat people there! those who work in GRO or HHN. they dont know how it really is in stn, unless they’ve really been there! and with crewlink contract!
It’s ridiculous that one month the salary was late a week, some people waited for two weeks!
and all these things like sick form! if you are really sick, how can you bring your sick form
on the same day! It’s almost the same if you came to work!
i just want to say that those of you who are thinking about going to ryanair, dont do it!!
you are not told about things how they treat you in the interview! only thing i liked in my job was my friends and flying! (if it wasnt 11-12 hours, like usually).”
- Cabin crew, UK
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“I have just finished an 8 month stint with ryanair and quite frankly i have never been lied to by anyone so much. i worked out for the hours i did per month, and i was getting paid less then £4.20 per hour thats below UK minimum wage. far less than i was told i would receive .
And in reference to the Cabin Crew from Germany’s comments about having plenty of time to relax i can assure you that is not the case in STN.”
- Cabin crew, UK
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“Get your act together, play the game fairly, treat your staff with respect.”
- Passenger, UK
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“I fly frequently with Ryanair and have found that your site an eye-opener, indeed! Perhaps I should use easyJet from now on.”
- Interested public, Ireland
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“I'm sick and tired of reading comments such as "If you don't like it leave it" or "You knew all along how it was going to be like". First of all by the time you're allowed to ask specific questions about salary and working conditions it is already too late and you've already paid for the course. Besides asking too many questions can cause them not to want to give you a contract anymore. Also, how can you leave a job after paying all that money, leaving everything behind to move to a foreign country? Who would pay the penalty for you if you left the company before the contract is expired? And yes, most people do leave this company as soon as they can, that's why they're always looking for new staff. To all of you thinking of joining this bunch of slave-traders, DON'T DO IT! This is 2005, slavery was abolished long time ago on this continent”
- Cabin crew, UK
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“Why can’t cabin crew join a union without being threatened with the sack? It makes you wonder what they have to hide. My partner works for this airline, and he comes home with the latest news from the ivory towers in Ireland. I am a member of a fairly good union, I when put this news to my rep, he says every time ‘they can’t do that its illegal’. It seems they are trying to pressure British people to leave because they are on old conditions with better pay, so they are left with foreign staff who barely speak a word of English, which is going to compromise safety.
They don’t get meal breaks, they are on duty for 11-12 hours and they might find 5 mins for a coffee if they’re lucky, but the law states after 41/2 hours on duty you must have a minimum of 30 mins. No wonder crew have fatigue, this company needs someone to stand up to them - go on, join a union, look after your rights.”
- Concerned citizen, Ireland
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“I worked for Ryan for a year and left because it was too depressing! I used to be so tired sometimes I used to fall asleep on my jump seat! And they say safety is their no1 concern! We used to get charged for our uniform and we also used to get charged for sickness days (€25 per day), oh and I forgot to mention we had to pay for our airport IDs! I mean what airline treats you like this...slave air?
The bullying was just too much...and for the people on here that say we knew from the start, well that’s a lie we never got told anything. Never work for them.”
- Cabin crew, UK
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“Ryanair of course, is out to make a profit, but when the cabin crew gets so worn down that the average passenger starts to notice the problems, it's gone too far. Nobody forced these people to work for Ryan, but I imagine cabin crew employees can't afford the luxury of being to picky with job offers, given the economic state of many airline carriers today.
As a final notice, I'll just point out that I have no intention of flying Ryan now or in the future.”
- Concerned citizen, Norway
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“I have no doubt that everything I hear from the cabin crew members here is true. Although I have never worked for this company, I have witnessed how people who work here seem to be become tired, stressed out, not to mention constantly nervous of being fired for the most silly reasons. What hurts me the most and the reason why I'm writing this is, that I've seen my own girlfriend becoming a mere shadow of her former self after working for Ryanair for only about a year. Open your eyes people, when so many point at a problem it's not mass hysteria, but a known fact that something is wrong!”
- Concerned citizen, UK
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“When I worked for Ryanair, I must admit I actually quite liked it! I didn’t pay for my uniform, airside ID or training. In fact, I think I received £50/wk expenses and I remember crew water and food! Fair enough the work was hard and hours long but I had a laugh. However, I spoke to one of my former colleagues recently who explained to me about the new Eastern European contracts and the non-existence of minimum rest between operations and pressure to turn around a/c in 25 minutes I was shocked! Flying with reduced quantities of safety equipment, crews sep and first aid knowledge well below standard, I was gobsmacked! What a different company it is today from when we started only 5 years ago!”
- Cabin crew, UK
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“It's a big lie that sales are on the first place... I did recurrent training a couple of weeks ago and they told us that Safety is no.1, after that sales and customer care! Why are they making up stories?
Ryanair is under ICAO. They have to follow normal procedures like every airline in the world. I have a Workforce contract as well. And the told us everything... And before you sign the contract you can still leave without paying the amount of money, so they agreed with it! I can't believe it. And we have to work without a break? Excuse me... We have time enough to sit down in our jump seat, eat our dinner, read a magazine. Please publish this on the site so that people know the truth. But this site only puts the bad and negative comments online...! And you say "Be Fair". If you are fair than you put this online... Thank you very much. A happy Ryanair Cabin Crew.”
- Cabin crew, Germany
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“I worked for Ryanair as cabin crew for 6 months. I was more than happy to leave. I have worked in lots of different places in my life but I've never seen place like this before. I know people who work with Ryanair contract might like the job, because they get good money. But we who had Crewlink contracts it was awful.
I could say it like I felt I was in the prison. You never knew who you could talk to, no one cared. I remember when one girl came to me crying and asked where she had to go if she want to quit. Her dad was in the hospital and she wanted to go and support him there, but our base manager was like "nothing can do!"
I really enjoyed the job, most time. I met lots of lovely people. I want to send my loving greetings to everyone, and I truly hope someday this company values you, because you guys are important without you Ryanair doesn't move!”
- Cabin crew, UK
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“To disallow staff to freely join a union is a disgrace and no doubt Mr O'Leary is terrified that he will have to pay decent wages and treat his staff in a fair manner. The type of bullying tactics used at Ryanair reflect the arrogance of this individual and his management. More publicity should be focussed to show the travelling public what a disgusting company this is. Thankfully most of us work within an industry that is not run in this fashion.”
- British Airways employee
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“I'm very glad that I have read these comments before I got into serious problem. Ryanair were recruiting people in Lithuania as well, offering training courses in Stansted UK for £1500 or €2300. However, it sounded reasonable because we were guaranteed to earn from £1000 to £1400 each month. As I can see now, this was just nice wrapping. In fact, Ryanair did not manage to collect enough people to form a group and the courses were put off indefinitely. I believe they are still organising interviews in my country. And they do take people with very poor English. I am completely disappointed with this company and if I ever fly with Ryanair I will be very understanding and sympathetic to the staff!”
- Interested Public, Lithuania
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“I am on the new Ryanair contract. I am so afraid of my manager. She treats me like a dog, she always shouts at all the cabin crew. I don't have a basic salary, I fly 12 hours a day and I just received the sector cheque and my commission, which is nothing. If I call in sick I have to pay and don't get basic salary, so I lose all my money. They don't have expensive tickets because they steal money from us.
Please help us. Don't fly with Ryanair because cheap tickets are only possible because of the exploitation of cabin crew.
Finally, when you leave the airline you have to pay, you have sign a paper which says that you can't say anything in the media, and if you have any illness caused by working for Ryanair, you can't ask to them for any kind of responsibility. ”
- Cabin Crew, United Kingdom
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“A friend of mine had to take Ryanair to the court to get paid...amazing! He was treated really badly and decided to quit and wasn’t paid. Ryanair said was a liar at the employment tribunal but he was finally was paid after several trials. Be careful my dear colleagues!!!”
- Cabin Crew, United Kingdom
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“Why don't you lot just stop moaning. If you don't like your terms and conditions then LEAVE! No one is forcing you to work for Ryanair.”
- Interested Public, United Kingdom
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“Ryanair management are bullies. The way it works is this: although you’re entitled to something by law, Ryanair don't follow the law and they have their own laws. If you ask for something like paternity leave and follow all the procedures by law to ensure you give the company enough notice, they refuse it to you thinking you might back down. It’s like a tug of war, you go back to them even though you state the law to them they don’t care they are sarcastic they push and push still thinking you may back down and not take any leave. Then you threaten them with court action they then know they have to give it to you. I got my leave but not the way the law states.
This is what we have to deal with 365 days a year (minus the 19 days holiday we get). The European Courts have to take action NOW before it’s too late or they will continue to get away with everything until they are stopped in their tracks. Irish aviation laws need to be changed but Ryanair are their biggest customer and I’m sure the IAA are bullied too e.g. ‘we’ll take our custom elsewhere’. Working for Ryanair has made me realise its a dog eat dog world. ”
- Cabin Crew, United Kingdom
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“I have worked for Ryanair for a good number of years and I'm still here, with no plan to leave soon. I don't understand why crew complain so much. They all know from day one at their interview what it is going to be like, they all know what they will have to pay and how much they are going to earn. They are given the chance to ask questions and they are never been lied to by anyone at these interviews. I know the job is hard and the company is sometimes difficult to work for but instead of complaining, why not just leave? These people that complain all day long just gives me a sore head making my day even longer than it has to be.
No one has ever had to work 7 days in a row to my knowledge. If they have, why are they not reporting this? There is a system in place where crew can report things confidentially and management will not know who sent it. Yes some crew work 6 sector days, but these are all short flight under 1hour.
Thanks to Ryan-be-fair for giving the crew a voice but please make sure that it is the truth. ”
- Cabin Crew, United Kingdom
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“All the bad comments that I have read here are 100% true. I used to work for Ryanair and it is the most unprofessional organisation I have ever worked for. Management don’t care about their staff and safety is no longer a prime concern. All that seems to matter to them nowadays is sales and how much money they can get out of new recruits. It is an absolute joke. Half the staff are incompetent and wouldn’t have a clue what to do if an emergency situation occurred.
As for the management, the bullying and harassment that goes on within this company is unbelievable. Staff aren’t protected because they are not in a union. Management aren’t approachable and you're scared to take any time off if you're ill in case you get disciplined. I personally witnessed one manager harassing numerous cabin crew members to the point where the staff were dreading going to work, but there was nothing they could do about it.
The bullying is still going on and something needs to be done. ”
- Cabin Crew, United Kingdom
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“I worked for Ryanair for 3 months and had to give up because I was extremely tired, I felt quite ill because of 12 hours flying per day without break + 3 hours per day for transportation like 80 per cent of the crew. Can you imagine spending 15 hours per day in uniform? Anyway, I really like this job but I think your health comes first. Good luck for Ryanair cabin crew.”
- Employee, France
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“We've been working for RyanAir for 6 months and in that short time the company has dramatically gone down hill. We've been treated poorly from the moment we started. We get no praise for what we do, we work long haul hours with no breaks, we get no food or water (don’t they always say we should drink lots when we fly?!) we have to pay for our uniform, but if we lose it, we have to pay for it again. I don’t know about anyone else, but I feel like I give them more money than what I’m earning. They take money for sick days and if we go out of hours we have to ask to get our days changed. They don’t supply any money if we have to stay somewhere overnight, they do pay us back but what if we don’t have any money in the first place?! They have no respect for their staff. What other company makes you pay for your training? We can’t really criticise because we don’t speak another language but the majority of the staff employed by RyanAir do not speak sufficient English, if there was an emergency we would not be able to work together as a team. We think in 2 years there will be no English people left in the company as they will not pay for their training. Something needs to be done.”
- Cabin Crew, United Kingdom
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“I assume you not putting up the good comments, as I'm sure they would well out number the bad ones.”
- Other RyanAir employee, Ireland
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“On a recent customer care course for RyanAir staff, we were told that safety was not number 1 priority anymore, it was sales. Can you believe this? Also, cabin crew that have been employed long term by the company were given verbal warnings for sick days even if they were certified by their doctors. Obviously this is a way of trying to get rid of their older more experienced crew who are costing more than the new young Eastern Europeans”
- Cabin Crew, United Kingdom
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“Flying RyanAir is a constant danger... one day, we took off from Stansted with no portable water in the aircraft, so we didn't have water in the toilets, in the sinks, not anywhere. The engineer told us that the plane needed to take off on time, and brought us another fire extinguisher, just in case "we had a fire on board". The Cabin Supervisor asked me to keep my personal water (the one I bought early that day) just in case we had an emergency. That day we did 2 flights in that condition.”
- Cabin Crew, United Kingdom
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“I work for a major airline in Norway. I just have to say, you as an employee, choose to work for RyanAir. If you don’t like the job, quit!”
- Interested Public, Norway
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“My partner and I used to fly regularly with Ryan Air to Hahn. After hearing about the appalling treatment RyanAir staff suffer we have decided to pay a bit extra and fly with another airline from London City Airport to Frankfurt International. We shall continue to do so until such time as RyanAir management recognise they have a responsibility to treat staff fairly and recognise their right to join a trade union.
I do not accept the argument that staff can just leave if they are unhappy. Particularly when a contract penalises an employee for leaving before 1 year as stated by many staff on this board. In any case everyone deserves the right to be treated decently in their workplace, after all it is where we spend most of our time.”
- Interested Public, United Kingdom
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“I've been working for RyanAir for the past 19 months and in that time I have seen the company change in such a big way! When I did my training we were told that safety was the main concern for Ryanair since then it has become sales before safety!!! They hire cabin crew whose 1st language is not English so they know the theory behind safety procedures but they do not know the meaning and how to carry them out. We pay £25 a month for our uniforms from the day we start until the day we leave and if it needs replacing we pay again for each piece of clothing! I don't mind so much the tea and coffee being taken away from us but it's the fact that they won't even provide water for us. We work on average 10 and a half to 11 hours a day starting as early as 10 past 5 in the morning with no hope of having a break.”
- Cabin Crew, United Kingdom
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"I fly with Ryanair fairly regularly, and I've been impressed with the crew's attitude and dedication on EVERY flight! I'm looking into joining the team soon, but was surprised that 'wannabes' have to pay for everything. In my opinion, it’s as if the airline doesn't want to invest in its crew at all! Is there any wonder why there are so many disgruntled Ryanair cabin crew when the airline gives so little in return for all their efforts?"
- Passenger, United Kingdom
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